BUDGET HEARING DATES Mt. Lebanon staff and commission have been working on next year’s budget since July, and it’s just about ready for adoption. The Mt. Lebanon Commission will hold budget workshops at 6 p.m., Monday, November 13, Monday, November 20 and Wednesday, November 29, in the commission chamber of the municipal building. There will be a public hearing at the Tuesday, November 14, commission meeting and the commission will vote on whether to approve the budget at the Tuesday, December 12, meetings.

Department heads work with the finance department to shape their lists of needs and wants for the upcoming year. Once all of the items are compiled into a list of service levels, the municipal manager ranks each one in order of importance, and funds as many as can be afforded with the municipality’s available revenue. If you cannot attend any of the meetings but have a comment you would like to make, you can email the commission at commission@mtlebanon.org.

NEW STUDENT INTERNS Three Mt. Lebanon High School students are participating in a municipal pilot program that is giving them a chance to learn more about how local government works. The Mt. Lebanon Commission suggested the new internship program because so many talented young people typically apply for the junior commissioner spot, and one junior commissioner serves each semester.

First semester interns are Tom Heagy, Sandrae Drive, and Bryce McKain, Summit Drive. Cassidy Higgins, Rock Springs Road, will intern during the second semester.  All have good grades, are engaged in many school and community activities and expressed interest in local, national and international affairs.

Spearheaded by Mt. Lebanon Assistant Manager/Planner Ian McMeans, the program is tailored to the students’ interests. “We’re trying to give them a sampling of how various departments and boards go about handling the business of the municipality,” says McMeans. He meets with the interns each Tuesday to plan their activities.

In addition to attending commission and other public meetings and shadowing staff members, interns are invited to take a look at the municipal budget process, see how policies are developed and implemented, discuss the importance of public outreach and effective communication and explore other related topics.

“We have talked about how Mt. Lebanon is different from many communities, being a home rule municipality.” Mc Means says, “And they recently attended a planning board meeting and saw three different examples of what that board does, which I thought was great: a request for a subdivision [of a parcel], a conditional use application and a land development plan.”